mrfahaji

Obviously you can go back and find numerous examples, my point was more about who has left since the infamous exodus that summer.

Basically, Pochettino and anyone who has continued to work with Pochettino are the only ones who have done well since leaving... (I guess Lallana, though it took him some time)

Last season Redmond went through patches of being awful but then also looked decent at times as well. This season I haven't seen him play well once, BUT I do wonder if that's at least partly because he's playing as instructed by the manager, and hence why he gets picked all the time. He started the Newcastle game quite well because he & Bertrand ran at the defenders and created space for crosses, but it didn't last long. It's not that Redmond does anything particularly badly, I'm just not sure what he does particularly well? I think most of our team you could specify a strength of their game, but not sure about Redmond...

North East/West Midlands, all one big melting pot really

Yeah, I think most people on here interpret (atm, at least) "direct" as "running towards the goal rather than away from it". You'd think, what with the idea of football being to score goals, it'd be a bit more popular with the coaching staff too

I agree that players fall over because staying on your feet often results in not getting a free kick/penalty, that's a problem with refereeing. Even in the case where someone kicks you and it's a foul though, if you 'choose' to fall over, technically it's still a dive (obviously not to the extent that you'd be booked for it).

Funnily enough, I was thinking about how under Puel, I often got the impression that we weren't playing how he envisaged us playing. He often said post-match that we didn't move the ball quickly enough. Ultimately it's still down to the manager to make it work, but there were at least times (mainly away from home) where we played with some panache and directness. The concerning thing for me with Pellegrino is that when we do show a bit more in terms of forward runs and directness, he almost seems unhappy with it. And when we draw/lose he appears to be happy with the way we've played, even if the fans can see it wasn't a good performance.

Surely if the contact wasn't enough for him to fall over, it's a dive? You're probably right that due to the contact, there isn't sufficient evidence of simulation, but there's little doubt in my mind that Tadic threw himself to the ground!

After Liverpool's performance yesterday I think Saints should do the decent thing and make peace with them over the transfers. Who are we to step in the way of Forster's dream move?

I'd rather we had consistency by Aguero and Rashford not getting a penalty rather than goals being handed out every time someone pretends to be fatally wounded by a passing breeze.

Would be pretty funny if they don't get Ancelotti, but get Moyes instead.

--------Forster (reluctantly) Cedric--Yoshida---van Dijk---Bertrand ----------Romeu--Lemina -JWP/Boufal--Boufal/Davis--Tadic ------------Gabbiadini (could also play Tadic AM and Boufal LW) Harry_SFC makes a good point about being away from home, there might be a case to play Long if the defence play a high line. In terms of general play though, "getting behind teams" doesn't seem to be part of Pellegrino's strategy. More's the pity.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics. It's not "in hindsight" if people have been saying it for weeks, and were saying it before Boufal's goal though, is it?

I don't agree with booing our own players, it's counterproductive. However, just to play Devil's Advocate - if the entire fanbase want to see player A brought on to the pitch, and with his last substitution of the game, the manager brings on player B instead, how can the fans show their displeasure at the manager for that decision? Like I said, I still wouldn't boo in this scenario, but is there at least a logical argument here?

I can see why you'd be concerned, I remember a couple of performances last season where he was woeful (Spurs away?) and the problem with Boufal is that if he is off form, he can really hurt you because he hasn't yet learnt when NOT to showboat. But I think the fact remains he is the only player we have capable of offering us what Mane did (I'm not saying he will be as good), in that he puts defenders on the back foot, which creates space for others and can also take opponents out of the game with skill (Tadic can also do this but due to his lack of pace normally only to create space for a cross rather than a direct run at goal). Also, in that season at the club, how many games has he actually started? And how many minutes does he normally get when he comes on? I don't the answer, but I barely remember him playing a full match.

Glad we've got a new thread for this. Well worth it.

I can't believe so many people think it was a penalty. Just because there was 'contact' doesn't automatically mean it's a foul, such a frustrating argument. It's hard to see it for definite from the one angle I saw, but I don't believe that Foster's hand impeded Tadic from getting to the ball in any way. If it had slowed him down or unbalanced him, then there's certainly a case, but it didn't appear like that to me - rather Tadic 'felt' contact and threw himself to the ground in a ridiculous manner when he could have just carried on running with the ball. If a player did that to us (e.g. Dele Alli) we would be spitting feathers. (and btw I'm not someone who has an agenda against Tadic, I have actually always been quite a fan of his)

I think what's happened is the teams who would be pencilled in to finish 7th-12th (West Ham, Leicester, Stoke, us) all look a bit shaky, certainly worse than last year. But then the teams who were obvious candidates for relegation at the start of the season (promoted teams, Burnley, Watford) have added something to their game and look as good as, if not better than, the former group. People saying we're going down are overreacting, but for those who point to the quality of our players... they're probably right, but the most important person at the club in terms of on-field issues is your manager. And I'm not convinced ours is very good. Which is unfortunate because when he came in I really liked what I read and what I heard from him.

Agree, we were crying out for someone to play alongside Romeu and now we have someone people think Oriol can do it on his own again! The good thing about Lemina is that is excellent as a DM but also capable pushing forward so can adjust his position according to how the game is going.

Haha, in my ecstasy of celebrating I totally forgot about the build up with the commentator calling him Lemina...!

Agree with your sentiment but I think calling it a one-two is kind (wrong)! Boufal was tackled, and the loose ball fell to Long. Nevertheless, it was still his desire to run forwards with the ball that caused the scenario to play out that way, even if he was a bit lucky he got away with a heavy first touch.

Generally agree with your player assessment, though I actually think in the first half Romeu was as good if not better than Lemina. I also didn't see Redmond playing on the turn, he still frustrated me immensely. I don't share your assessment that we were more on the front foot after the break. Maybe for a short period, but overall I thought we were poorer in the second half, with few positives until Boufal's moment of magic. Also, while you're not wrong about the space out wide, surely the reason why there was so much space was exactly because we weren't playing anyone there...? It was basically the opposite approach of the Newcastle game, where we played everything through the wings, which meant there was more space between CM & CF, but no-one there linking the lines. I think Pellegrino is trying different formations in the hope it will all click. I don't think it will with 2 players up front unless we change the style of play (rather than formations) though. We either need to commit midfield runners into and past the forwards with a short, quick passing game or we need to get players in behind and whip ball across the face of goal for the 2 strikers to get on the end of and generally cause havoc in the box. But we don't do either of those things, which means we're left with two players not really contributing much over the course of a game.

He's right, he could. But equally, he could win us the game. And at the moment, that's what we're missing.

The only thing I'd say is that I didn't find West Brom particularly dirty or, apart from a bit of time wasting (which I didn't notice that much tbh), I don't recall much 'cheating'. I don't remember it much from his Stoke team either, even though they are of course both physical teams. Compare that to a games against Allardyce's West Ham or Sunderland, or some recent matches against Mark Hughes' Stoke. They were pulling every trick in the book - kicking people, diving, surrounded the ref, time wasting etc. I would not by any stretch want to be a West Brom fan, and I feel sorry for them, but as the opposition you don't have a right to complain about a team coming for a 0-0. It's up to us to break them down, and if they're not going to bother to attack, maybe we should be glad that we haven't got to worry about planning for that part of the game...!

Maybe you should start a new thread about it. I still think he's better than Redmond, but that dive and his reluctance to take a shot on first time are certainly pushing my patience.